THE COVENANT PATHWAY TO DIVINE BLESSING-PART 3
Earlier we started looking into the fundamental pathways to enjoying Divine blessings. We have been made to understand from earlier articles that God is pleased in our prosperity. 3 John 2 "that ye may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospereth".
We have seen that the Father will have us enjoy all that pertains to life and godliness. Luke 12:32 tells us that it is His good will to give us the kingdom. Revelations 5:10 talks about our reigning on the earth. We have been called as kings and queens.
From all the scriptures above, we see that God is very much interested in everything that is good towards us. However, we must understand that it is possible for us to have this inheritance but still do not know how to access it. It's just like the story of a man who was in an airplane and as they were passing refreshments, He didn't take anything for the fear that it might cost him money. While others were taking and eating; though hungry, he just kept declining the offers. Once they got to their destination, He asked a face he had seen in the airplane, for where he could get something to eat. This man marvelled and told him that he had rights to everything served on the plane, as He had paid for it together with the flight ticket. Shocked, you may be! But this is how it is for so many of us. We don't know what is available unto us and even when we do, we don't know how to access it. Hence the need to go through this series. If you have not seen the previous articles, they are on our blogspot and Facebook handles, endeavour to check them out. God bless you.
In the words of Late Myles Munroe, "when the knowledge of a thing is not known, an abuse is inevitable". Take knowledge from a man and you have crippled him. The Bible says the ways of the foolish wearieth everyone of them for they know not how to go into the city. When you don't know a thing, you tend to commit errors and why? This is because you easily make assumptions. At the very root of assumptions is lack of knowledge. But I believe we all will obtain knowledge from here forward. Amen
We have considered two pathways i.e. Divine Obedience and Sanctification. We were made to see that Obedience to Divine instructions is what makes us rise as giants in life. Caleb and Joshua, of the twelve spies, rose to greatness because they obeyed (Num 14:24).
The blessings of our Father Abraham that we appropriate on ourselves today were received on the platform of Faith filled Obedience. Obedience that was not ready to waver or shake under pressure. As Romans 4:20 will put it, "the Obedience that staggered not". If you want to go very far in life, pay attention to obeying God's voice. His voice is the only best way to live without errors.
We were also made to understand that only the righteous are entitled to enjoying Divine blessings. Psalm 112:1-2 "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed". This is not to say the children of the world may not enjoy blessings but true kingdom riches are for God's beloved. When the sinners gather wealth, the Bible makes us to understand that it is so that, soon all they have will be taken from them ( Psalm 73:17). And why is this so? the enemy is on the mission to steal, kill and to destroy. For a child of God, we have the edge of a defence against His woes but for those of the world, they are as a prey in the devil's hands.
Today we will be looking at another COVENANT PATHWAY - SACRIFICE
The altar of sacrifice is one of the surest means of securing Heaven's blessings upon your life. What is Sacrifice? Sacrifice is just giving unto the Lord that which costs you something. It is a step higher than your offering. Many times in the old testament, when the concept of Sacrifice was made mention of, we see God coming down mightily by Himself; we see Him visiting His people with strange orders.
In the book of Genesis 22, Abraham was to offer a sacrifice of his only son unto God and we saw how by simply doing this, God again revalidated His promises unto him. For Noah in Genesis 8:20-21 "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done"
By this sacrifice of His, God made a decree that He would not again destroy the world with flood. We are reminded that God will always remember our offerings and sacrifices.
Psalm 20:1-3 "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; 2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; 3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
In 1 kings 3:3-5, King Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings unto God and then that same night in Gibeon, the Lord visited Him and gave Him a blank cheque.
Sacrifice is one way the heavens open unto us. It is expedient that we know when we give unto the Lord, He gives back unto us. One may ask how then do we give unto God. We give for the things of the kingdom. We give time, materials, resources, our life anything that is worth something. All these are our sacrifices unto God. Men that have an understanding of this know that it is a very easy way to securing the blessings of God. Malachi 3:10"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it".
The Father is interested in the meat that will in turn return to you as a blessing. It is not God who is in need, we are the ones who are in need of Him. He has all He will ever require but for us to be blessed, we must do certain things. God delights in our offerings and more importantly our sacrifices.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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